Keeping Watch
by Annber03
Summary: Hospitals give a person some time to think and reflect. Tied to a scene from part 2 of the season 9 finale ("Demons").


_Because the Garcia/Reid moments in the finale were awesome and incredibly sweet. Slight spoilers for the finale here._

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She's been here before.

As Garcia watches Reid sleep, his face so angelic and innocent, as she observes the bandages and tubes that cover his upper body at the moment, as she tries desperately to avoid looking at his neck, knowing what happened there…she does what she always wants to do in these situations. Think happy thoughts.

She tries to think of Reid gazing down at his new godson, anxiously awaiting the moment when JJ would tell him that he'd been named the child's godfather. Wanting to leave the room to give JJ and Reid their privacy for such a personal moment, yet wanting to stay so she can see the happiness on his face.

Thankfully, though, she does eventually get to see that happiness, for the smile does not leave his face for quite some time after he leaves JJ's hospital room. And all Garcia can think in that moment is how she wants to see him smile more.

She tries to think of him hogging her space when he was stuck at the office with her thanks to his knee injury. He had a competitive streak, she'd always known that, she'd seen it when he would play card games with the team. But Garcia still found herself surprised at how quickly it had kicked in when he was around her during that case. She rarely saw him so cocky, and in any other instance, she'd be all for it, but he was just being so damned _annoying_, just like the way her brothers would be annoying when they refused to admit they were wrong about something and all his hobbling around would cause her stuff to fall all over the place and he rambled on even more than usual about god knows what, she couldn't remember because she'd stopped listening ages ago…

…and now she'd give anything, _anything_ for him to talk her ear off about random things. To mess up her precious lair again. She would gladly argue with him about everything under the sun right now, do a "genius-off" battle. She'd even let him win!

She tries to think of how bad she'd felt at pulling him away from their trip to that sci-fi convention a couple years ago. And why? Because she was too embarrassed to be in the same space as Kevin and his new girlfriend or date or friend with benefits or whatever it was she was to him. Finally, Garcia had someone she could actually share a geeky interest with, as did Reid, and yet she threw away a day of fun for petty jealousies.

Well, there was also that bank robbery that turned into a bombing that had interrupted their fun, but that was neither here nor there.

The "Dr. Who" figurines she'd brought to the hospital wouldn't even begin to make up for that missed opportunity. But still, it was something. Garcia vows to keep an eye out for any more similar conventions when they came to town, too. She wonders briefly if Reid still has that outfit he wore last time. _That scarf will cover his scar quite nicely…_

She tries to think of their fitness test a couple months ago. Reid had felt so awkward in shorts, to the point where Garcia'd had to coax him out after he'd put them on. And yeah, he did look a little funny in them, she wasn't going to lie, but still, not as bad as he'd feared. Garcia may not have thought of Reid in _that_ way, but still, she couldn't deny he'd looked kinda adorable.

He was surprisingly encouraging, too – whenever she felt she wouldn't be able to handle the slog any more, he was there telling her that she just needed to keep moving, that the Garcia he knew never gave up.

_The Reid I know never gives up, either. Come on, you have to get better soon! We still need to work on figuring out a way to get back at Morgan, remember? You still had some leftover pranks in mind!_

She wants to say all these things to Reid out loud. But she can't. There are few things more frustrating to Garcia than talking to someone, only to get no response.

Instead, all she hears is the beeping of the machines. All she sees is Reid, eyes closed, chest _veeeeery_ slowly rising and falling, and her breath hitches if his breathing ever seems particularly slow.

Yes. She's been here before. And those bad memories are trying desperately to crowd out the good ones now.

She'd wanted to throttle him after hearing about him stepping onto that train in Texas all those years ago, talking down an unsub even with a gun pointed at him. Garcia thought that would've been his wake-up call, but then again, she obviously didn't know Reid well enough yet at that point.

Hearing he'd split up from JJ when they went after Hankel was bad enough. Finding out he was held captive horrified her – she hadn't stopped trembling the entire time she'd been on the plane to join the team in Georgia. When she'd seen him beaten and bloodied, saw Hankel (or Charles or Raphael…frankly, she didn't give a damn whom it was that was hurting him) smacking him around and leaving him teary-eyed and pleading for his life, she'd cursed the world for not developing the technology that allowed a person to physically reach through a computer screen.

But seeing him die on screen? Like, _literally_ die? Take a big gulping breath only to fall still and silent? The only other time she'd felt that ill was when her parents had died. Seeing Reid in such a state, that was the first time she'd actually considered leaving the job altogether. Witnessing tragedies befall random civilians was tough enough, but seeing someone she worked with in such peril? Uh-uh.

And that wasn't all! No, then there was the explosion at the polygamist compound. Getting shot in the knee. Being infected with anthrax (_thank you, Morgan, for reminding me_, she thinks as she gazes at the cup of Jell-O on Reid's tray). Talking down unsubs while being completely unarmed. Unexplainable headaches (he didn't tell her, but she figured it out in her own way). The list went on and on. She was starting to think there should be some sort of plaque made honoring how many times Reid seemed to narrowly escape death. Either that or hospitals should start giving him punch cards – fill it up, win a free examination! Or something.

Reid was a fighter. That much was obvious. And Garcia knew he'd fight again here, too, when he woke up.

But for now, he would sleep, and rest. Finally, for once, Garcia's here to keep watch over him in person, for once, she would do the fighting for him.

She glances over at the bag that holds Reid's gun.

Yes. This time, Garcia has her chance to truly help him, and she'll be damned if she lets the opportunity slip through her fingers.

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_As always, reviews/critiques/etc. are appreciated!_


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